Toto Wolff Preparing to Divest Stake Valuing Mercedes F1 at £4.6bn
Toto Wolff is in final negotiations to sell a portion of his ownership stake in the Mercedes F1 outfit.
The deal values the Mercedes team at £4.6bn – an unprecedented figure for a Formula 1 squad – after McLaren was appraised at £3.5bn in an adjustment to ownership structure last September.
The Austrian executive, who holds one-third of the Mercedes F1 operation, plans to divest a shareholding approximately five percent.
The 53-year-old will remain as team boss and CEO if the sale goes through.
Ownership Breakdown
The other shareholders in Mercedes F1 are Mercedes and chemicals giant Ineos Group, who each also own a third of the company.
An official representative stated: "We will be making no comment on this. The governance of the team stays unaltered, and all three partners are fully committed to continued achievements of Mercedes-Benz in F1."
Valuation Growth
This arrangement would represent a substantial rise in value of the Mercedes team since Ineos acquired its share for £208 million in 2022.
The rise reflects the expansion in market values of F1 teams in the past few years due to the growing popularity of the sport around the world.
This was also seen in the success of the F1 movie featuring Brad Pitt, which was released last summer and has grossed more than $630m (£458m) at the box office.
The film represents the actor's top-grossing film and the most successful sports film to date.
Current Performance
The Mercedes team are second in the team standings, trailing McLaren, with three Grands Prix remaining this season.
Mercedes' primary racer British driver George Russell has secured victory in two of the 21 races so far and is fourth in the individual standings after McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen.
Mercedes secured a record eight consecutive team titles and seven drivers' titles, six for Lewis Hamilton and one by Nico Rosberg, between 2014 and 2021.
